May 14 2013 Astronomy Newsletter

Naming Asteroids 159

Hi everybody

Here's the latest article from the Astronomy site at BellaOnline.com.

Naming Asteroids
How do asteroids get their names? You have to discover an asteroid to name it, but you still can't name it after yourself or your cat. You also can't buy the naming right, though someone might give theirs to you.

Venus has been around the other side of the Sun, so not visible in our skies for awhile. I’m not sure for how long, because we’ve had so many clouds and so much rain, I’ve scarcely seen anything in the sky recently. But there could be some beautiful sights coming our way. Jupiter is still bright, though not as bright as Venus in her glory – and they’re moving closer together in the sky. On May 28, there will be a close conjunction. So, given a clear sky, we should be able to see several nights with two bright planets in the field of view.

*May solar eclipse of 2013*

Here is an image I particularly liked from last week’s eclipse: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130513.html The layers of clouds - and the airplane, of course! - are a great addition to the Moon’s shadow on the Sun.